Recent Ukrainian counterattacks have targeted Russian air defense systems in anticipation of Ukraine receiving F-16 fighter jets later this summer. These attacks have also hit military, naval, logistics hubs and communications centers, most recently the NIP-16 Space Tracking and Deep Space Communications Center.
Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan argues that this strike effectively marks the end of Russian operations in outer space.
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The following is an excerpt from Peter’s June 25 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
Last week, I talked about how Ukraine has been targeting Russian air infrastructure to prepare for the arrival of their F-16s. Well, Ukraine launched a rocket attack on occupied Crimea and destroyed some air defenses and one of Russia’s deep space satellite communication stations.
The loss of that deep space satellite communication station is the focus for today. This isn’t great news for Russia’s already struggling civilian space program, given they’ve depleted their old ICBMs used for satellite launches. This will also reduce tracking and communication with Russia’s military satellites, which complicates things for any other nations relying on Russia for maintenance or launches. The final kicker is that Russia’s GLONASS system — their version of GPS used in precision-guided munitions like glide bombs — could be jeopardized or degraded.
This attack could significantly impact Russian capabilities, but we’ll have to wait for final reports to determine the full extent of the damage and impacts.